Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric connector configured to cause a contact point portion of a contact member to abut a plate-shaped signal transmission medium inserted to interior of a medium insertion path by elastically displacing the contact member by turning of an actuator cam.
Description of Related Art
Generally, in various electric devices, etc., as means for electrically connecting various plate-shaped signal transmission media such as flexible printed circuits (FPC), flexible flat cables (FFC), etc., various electric connectors are widely used. For example, in an electric connector used by being mounted on a printed wiring board like below-described Patent Document, etc., a plate-shaped signal transmission medium composed of, for example, above described FPC or FFC is inserted to interior of a medium insertion path through an opening of an insulating housing (insulator), and an actuator (connection operating means), which is at a “standby position (opened position)” at that point of time and is maintaining the plate-shaped signal transmission medium in an opened state, is configured to be turned by the operating force of an operator so as to be pushed down toward a “working position (closed position)” in a front side or a rear side of the electric connector.
Then, when the actuator (connection operating means) undergoes the turning operation to the “working position (closed position)” at which the plate-shaped signal transmission medium is sandwiched, a medium pressing portion (pressurizing portion) provided on the actuator is brought into pressure-contact with a surface of the plate-shaped signal transmission medium (for example, FPC, FFC), and the plate-shaped signal transmission medium is sandwiched between the medium pressing portion and the contact member by the pressing force of the medium pressing portion (pressurizing portion) of the actuator, and the plate-shaped signal transmission medium is caused to be in a fixed state. On the other hand, when a turning operation is carried out in the direction in which the actuator at the “working position (closed position)” is raised to the upper side toward the original “standby position (opened position)”, the pressing force of the medium pressing portion (pressurizing portion) of the actuator is cancelled, and, when it reaches the “standby position (opened position)”, the plate-shaped signal transmission medium can be removed.
On the other hand, in the interior of the insulating housing (insulator), a plurality of electrically-conductive (for example, made of metal, etc.) contact members are arranged so as to form a multipolar shape. However, generally, these contact members are set so as to be already in a slight contact state with respect to the plate-shaped signal transmission medium from the point of time when the plate-shaped signal transmission medium (for example, FPC, FFC) is inserted to the interior of the medium insertion path, in other words, when the actuator (connection operating means) is at the “standby position (opened position)”, and the plate-shaped signal transmission medium inserted to the interior is configured to be temporarily retained by the abutting force of the contact members, which are in such a slight contact state. Then, the actuator is turned to the “working position (closed position)” in the above described manner, and the medium pressing portion (pressurizing portion) is brought into a pressure-contact state with the plate-shaped signal transmission medium (for example, FPC, FFC); as a result, electrically-conductive paths (electrode pattern) provided on the plate-shaped signal transmission medium are brought into an abutting state with respect to the contact point portions of the contact members, thereby forming signal circuits or ground circuits.
However, if the temporarily retained state in which the contact members are abutting the plate-shaped signal transmission medium (for example, FPC, FFC) is obtained from the period in which the actuator (connection operating means) is at the “standby position (opened position)” in the above described manner, an electrically conducting state is obtained from a point immediately after the plate-shaped signal transmission medium is inserted. Therefore, for example, even if a conduction test is carried out erroneously in the state in which the actuator has not been subjected to the turning operation to the “working position (closed position)”, a successful state is obtained, and it may be transferred to shipment in that state. Moreover, when the plate-shaped signal transmission medium is to be inserted into the medium insertion path of the insulating housing (insulator) in the state in which the actuator (connection operating means) is at the “standby position (released position)”, an insertion distal-end part of the plate-shaped signal transmission medium may collide with the contact members, and peeling or exfoliation of the electrically-conductive paths (electrode pattern) may be caused.
The inventor of the present application discloses a conventional document of the present invention as following.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-345136